Expected transaction close timeframe before attending the K&R Workshop: Third Quarter

Narrative: The client needed our offering implemented before year-end to assure their compliance with government regulations and to avoid the financial consequences of non-compliance. We presented our solution to the client for $8.5M anticipating that we would discount the price to get closure quickly. The client began to use negotiation tactics to achieve a better price from us. The tactics they used included escalation to higher management, threats of using a competitive offering, and dividing our team with the hope of having someone from our company agree with their demands.

Actual results: $8.5M

Actual closing timeframe: We closed the transaction in early October (missing our forecast) but we still had sufficient time to complete the implementation before the year-end deadline.

K&R Tools and Techniques: The K&R Workshop module on Tactics was especially helpful, and the workshop discussions about Value Articulation helped us to hold our offering price by articulating the value of our solution in client terms. We maintained our leverage with the deadline that the client faced, and did not let our own internal pressure to close the transaction in the third quarter cause us to make an unprincipled concession. We maintained close communications among our worldwide team members, and kept management apprised of the situation and our progress to avoid any unwanted or untimely “help” from our executives.